Friday 09/06/06 Day 1 @ Download Festival, Donington Park

Download has come to be known as the saviour of UK rock and metal festivals, bringing the best of the mosh to it’s spiritual home for four years now. With what can only be described as miraculously hot and sunny weather and more than 100 bands to watch over the three day event, we were rather excited about the whole thing. Would Axl actually turn up? Will Fightstar get beaten up in the metal playground? Will a plane land on our heads? There was only one way to find out.

Waking up by planes taking off at 5.30am on a Friday morning is not exactly the perfect start to the weekend, but then neither is boiling to death in a tent-cum-sauna so the only thing to do was get up and get on with it. As has become the unwritten law, the gates to the main arena aren’t allowed to open on time, meaning the Snickers Bowl was empty as opening band Sintuition took to the stage. All was not lost however. Most of the thousands of free Snickers bars being given out were used as missiles, which pleased the empty reviewer’s stomach greatly. And we could still hear the band playing their hearts out. Maybe next year they’ll get chance to make more of an impact.

The first day bands were a mixture of big name favourites, cult fashionistas and up-and-coming hopefuls, all vying to make their impact on the thousands upon thousands of fans baying for blood and good music. Soil, Strapping Young Lad and Soulfly all gave the main stage audience plenty of reasons to throw the horns and scream their lungs out but the day had an air of anticipation with most people trying to conserve as much energy as possible for the rest of the weekend.

INME, Atreyu and All American Rejects impressed their fans but didn’t entice many non-believers into the flock, with many people choosing to take advantage of the good weather and array of attractions on site. By the end of the day the Snickers Bowl had attracted a steady flow of visitors for extreme sports, good music and free chocolate. Headliners Gay For Johnny Depp confused the hell out of most people by managing to combine great riffs with the unpredictable nature of escaped mental asylum patients. Friday’s headliners Tool attracted a good-sized crowd of devoted fans but had competition from the unpredictable party nature of Ginger and the Sonic Circus on the third stage.

Check out the photo gallery!